Normalcy
by mr sexy27
Summary: Reposted. A story where normal is definitely not what most would call normal.


Well, I decided to repost this after I made a few minor and not so minor revisions. I was rather unsatisfied with the first version, and in fact, I'm not to fond of this one either, but this is more to set up the story than anything, so I guess it won't be too bad. I'm going to try to actually keep working on this, and maybe if I get a few chapters out, I'll actually want to keep writing and actually make this a long work, but I can guarantee nothing. I might pair Ranma with Akane, but I'm still very much considering an alternate pairing just for the fun of it if nothing else. I'm also open to suggestion for the pairing with my new character, I already have a few ideas in mind, but nothing set in stone. So please vote for who you would like to see paired, both with Ranma and with the new character.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma. I do, however, own my new characters, so ask if you want to use them for some reason, please.

It was another bright and beautiful mid-spring Nermia morning. Birds were singing, the sun was just peaking over the horizon, a light breeze was flowing gently over the streets and houses that were just beginning to awaken, and coffee pots all over were coming to life, brewing the dark, bitter drink that made so many mornings that much better. In short, it was a perfectly normal morning in this quaint Japanese community.

That is, of course, if you overlook the young pigtailed lad being thrown out of his bedroom window by his father, falling into a koi pond and emerging a girl, engaging in unarmed combat with the same man that catapulted the him out his window, whom was soon knocked into the same koi pond, surfacing as a panda, and finally the young, short haired/tempered fiancé of the previously mentioned young lad producing a giant mallet seemingly out of mid air and, with a tremendous swing, launching her betrothed eastward, over buildings, streets, and houses toward the rising sun for the crime of disturbing the peace, and her slumber.

Then there was the relatively small restaurant, the Nekohatten, in which a woman demure of stature and three hundred years of age hopped along on a knobbed staff, awakening a young, purple haired Chinese girl with a light tap and a tall boy of similar geographic background and far worse eyesight with a bucket of cold water, leaving a duck where his form once slumbered.

And it would be almost impossible to overlook the gigantic mansion, home to a brother and sister, the former awakened from his rest mumbling poetry by the family ninja, and the latter brought to consciousness with a maddening laugh by the same shinobi.

Finally, there was the dark-haired boy wandering around the edge of the town, but not entering it, either because of insanity or a complete lack directional sense, or both.

Yes, excluding the aforementioned abnormalities, it was a perfectly normal morning by any definition of the term. Of course, this is entirely excluding the rest of the day and much of the night, which had gained exceptional acclaim for being among the strangest of any city, town, village, or prefecture in the known world.

At this point, we will zoom in on one specific household, where the chaos and discord seemed to swirl around, much like a whirlpool or a tropical storm, as it were. This home is the Tendo residence, a surprisingly large home, as far as Japanese homes go, with a tall wall surrounding the property, a gate in the front being the only portal through which short of jumping it altogether, and a small koi pond in the backyard.

As many of the more perceptive readers have now assumed, this is the same home that bared witness to the activities first mentioned above. The home had seen many things in its time, but the events following the arrival of the young man and his father have been the strangest by far. The lad, Saotome Ranma, had been a resident of this city for merely six months and he had already earned quite the reputation as a mind-boggling martial artist, as well as somewhat of a womanizer, having countless women coming and claiming to be his fiancé, four currently residing in the city and competing for him as it were. We will now zoom in on this household and, without further ado, begin the actual plot of this little story.

"You know, you're bound to seriously hurt him one of these days, Akane," said a young girl with short brown hair, admonishing her sister for launching her fiancé across the city, all the while walking down a set of stairs to join her family for breakfast.

The girl now known as Akane gave her sister a dismissive scowl, "The jerk deserved it, Nabiki. He was making a racket out there and woke me up," she groused, walking inside the house for breakfast and tossing her mallet back into empty space, should she need it for more Ranma bashing in the near future.

"Nabiki is right, Akane. Though Ranma is tough, he is still a person. It's only a matter of time before you actually hurt him," a more mature girl said, in a tone that could barely even be considered chiding. She said this as she brought the breakfast she had cooked into the dining area, her longer brown hair resting over her shoulder, bound in a perfectly tied bow and a sweet smile adorning her beautiful face.

This did little to stave off Akane's wrathful intentions, however. She plopped down at her place at the table at the same time as Nabiki and responded in a voice filled with contempt for her fiancé. "Until then, I'm going to keep on teaching that idiot a lesson, Kasumi."

"I'm so happy Genma," began a middle aged man with long black hair and a moustache, sitting at the table, reading the morning newspaper contentedly, "Our children will make such a wonderful husband and wife when they are married."

The man that was addressed waddled in and sat down roughly, and not having the capability to speak any human tongue, being a panda at the moment held up a sign with Japanese scrawled across it, his horrible penmanship making itself known. I agree Soun it said before it was turned around to reveal more writing Hot water please.

Kasumi, being prepared for such an occurrence, went into the kitchen and soon brought out a kettle of hot water and, walking over to the panda, poured half the contents over the its head, changing it into a large, bald middle aged man.

Genma gave Kasumi a large, thankful smile, "Thank you Kasumi."

Just as Kasumi finished giving out food to everyone, Ranma walked in, looking particularly disheveled and female. He walked over to the table and picked up the kettle of hot water, pouring the rest of it over his head, turning him back to a young man. He then sat down and, with a smile, began gobbling down the wonderful meal before him, in much the same manner as his father.

No one at the table was at all surprised, or at all uncomfortable with anything that had just happened. Kasumi cooking a delicious meal, Ranma and his father sparing, Ranma being launched over the horizon by Akane, even people changing back and forth from boy to girl or man to panda, these were all normal, relatively speaking of course, so nothing was logged as a significant event this morning.

"Well, I'm done," Nabiki said with a contented sigh, putting her bowl back down on the table, "I'm going to school now. Great meal Kasumi, and don't be late you two," she finished, her final comment directed at Ranma and Akane as she rose and left the house quickly, grabbing her bag on her way out.

Ranma quickly finished his third serving, and with a wide smile, stood up and turned to leave, "Breakfast was delicious Kasumi! I'm going to school now," he said, finding his bag and running toward school.

"Wait for me you moron!" Akane yelled to Ranma, gulping down the rest of her rice and sprinting after the pig tailed martial artist.

She soon caught up to the lightly jogging Ranma, whom was perched upon the usual fence, and her ego inflated proportionally.

"Ha! You're getting slow Ranma!" she taunted the fence-jogging martial artist.

"Oh! So it's a race the gorilla wants, eh?" he returned, "Just see if you can keep up then!" and with that, Ranma turned on the after burners, and his fence-jogging quickly became fence-running-at-mind-boggling-speeds, leaving a plaid streak behind him that would make Mel Brooks proud.

'Damnit!' Akane thought angrily, 'He keeps getting faster and stronger! I guess I'll never be able to even come close to his level the way things are going,' she thought, her mood quickly shifting from wrathful to sullen. 'His butt did look pretty nice when he was jogging though,' a mischievous grin crept onto her face, until she realized what she had just allowed to pass through her mind, 'No, no, no! He's a moron! A perverted moron! A cute one, but that makes it even worse!' she proclaimed to herself, this time not catching her mental slip.

While Akane lagged behind in her mental battle, completely devoid of Spaceballs references, Ranma reduced his speed and jumped from his perch atop the fence, quickly reaching his destination: Furinkan High School.

'Wow, that old woman didn't hit me with water this morning, I hope the rest of the day will be this lucky,' he rejoiced, a big grin plastered on his face, 'I wonder if she realizes she doesn't need to, there really is no point…'

Ranma was torn out of her reverie as he reached the gates of Furinkan as a wooden sword was thrust into his face threateningly. The ever present Kuno was predictably at the other end of the weapon. Ranma watched with a bored expression as the deranged Kendoist dove into one of his trademark speeches.

"Halt, vile sorcerer! Whereto hast thine evil whisked mine beauteous Akane?" he demanded in perfect melodramatic form, pose and all.

"You want to know where Akane is?" Ranma asked, a confused expression momentarily surfacing through his uninterested features. Taking Kuno's silent nod as an affirmative, he continued, "She's on her way here as far as I know, we raced and I won. By a lot."

Ranma's nonchalant response clearly enraged the crazed young man that was presently interrogating him, "Why must such beauty be wasted on a thankless and unworthy dog as this?" he asked no one in particular, more than likely the heavens that sent him down as their hand of justice or whatever it was he came up with that week.

His dramatic questioning did little to faze Ranma, however, whom was quickly becoming annoyed with Kuno's persistent antics, "It gets harder and harder to understand what you're trying to say everyday, you know," he began, "You really should try speaking more…" he attempted to finish, though his efforts quickly became beyond futile, Kuno raising his weapon for the attack.

"As punishment for thine unspeakable crimes, I shall defeatist thou in honorable combat!" Kuno yelled, his arms flexing to bring the sword in his hands down onto the head of the boy before him.

Ranma, for his part, handled the situation in quite a diplomatic manner. He clobbered the insane fellow straight in the nose before the sword had the chance to fall even a centimeter, throttling the unfortunate youth backward several yards.

Akane chose this moment to come running up behind the pig tailed boy, "What was the big idea leaving me alone back there!" she asked, panting from her feeble attempt at keeping up with the pig-tailed young man.

"Hey, you were the one who challenged me, it's not my fault you're slow as a turtle with a broken leg," was the answer returned to her. Ranma proceeded to walk to the building, being on time for once, taking particular care to step especially hard on the stomach of the presently unconscious Kuno and avoid the plethora of objects, both blunt and sharp hurled at him by his mildly agitated fiancé.

The rest of the school day went by normally. "Normal" being a relative term in this case of course. Ranma slept through nearly all of his academic classes, awakening only for lunch, PE, and the final bell. Lunch passed as expected, Ranma woke the instant the bell rang and tore into his Bento like a fat chick to chocolate cake. Once the wonderful food had yielded to his onslaught, and was completely gone, Ukyo, his cute, cross-dressing fiancé, appeared by his side, offering him one of her expertly prepared okonomiyaki. This, of course, deeply insulted and angered Akane, his "uncute" fiancé, who had taken the time to make him some "expertly" prepared "food" of her own. To avoid going into unnecessary detail and equally unnecessary quotation marks, it shall be sufficed to say Ranma was throttled out the window for his transgressions, and returned shortly, completely unharmed and a might testy, in typical Ranma form. Soon afterward, lunch ended, subsequently ending Ranma and Akane's little tiff, and signaling the beginning of the other half of Ranma's nap also known as school.

With the final bell, Ranma, always true to form, sprung to consciousness and joyously jumped out the same window he had flown through against his will during the lunch hour. After a prefect ten landing, he made his way to the gate of the school, where he had so recently beaten Kuno, and impatiently waited for Akane. His waiting was finally brought to an end when Akane leisurely made her way to where he stood, having taken the time to visit her locker and talk to her friends on her way out, rather than running for freedom in much the same way as Ranma.

Akane and Ranma's walk home was uneventful as their school day, having the privilege of only one visit from Shampoo due to the large number of deliveries she needed to make at that moment, and a visit to Tofu for hot water, the old lady having come back in force, not failing as she had that morning.

They soon found themselves back home. As par, Kasumi brought out a small tray of snacks for the two once they had put away their bags. Ranma quickly ate his portion, thanked Kasumi, and retired to the dojo for his afternoon training, consisting of a few light katas and meditation. Akane, being in no rush, chose to eat her share in a more calm and relaxed fashion, taking time to savor the flavor of the food. Nabiki arrived soon as well, having to close several business deals after school. She too ate her snacks, thanked Kasumi along with Akane, and both left for their rooms to change out of their uniforms and begin their homework before dinner.

Time passed as was normal for around an hour. Akane and Nabiki remained in their rooms, working on their assignments, Ranma practiced the art in the dojo, Soun and Genma contentedly played shogi, and Kasumi whiled away her time preparing dinner. This simple pattern was short lived however, as the sound of a telephone ringing filled the house, drawing the collective attention of the house hold, which resulted in several "alterations" to the shogi board on Genma's part. Kasumi answered it with a polite greeting, and was shortly informed that the person needed was the man of the house, Soun. Kasumi brought the phone into the living area where Soun and Genma still sat, playing their favored game. Kasumi handed her father the phone to her father and with a slight bow left to finish her dinner preparations.

"Yes, this is Tendo Soun. Yes, she is a very close friend of mine. She what? Oh my, that is truly terrible. Thank you; it is indeed a great loss. And what is that? Really? Of course I can. Yes, that is my address. It's no problem at all, we have plenty of room. Thank you, goodbye."

"Who was that, Tendo?" Genma asked, visibly confused by the half of the call he could hear.

"It was a lawyer from America, Saotome. I will explain everything at dinner, when everyone will be present," he explained, a forlorn expression taking hold of his face.

"Dinner everyone!" Kasumi called shortly after Soun's phone conversation had ended. Everyone quickly gathered, Ranma and Genma eagerly awaiting the meal, as always. Soun, however, still wore a solemn expression, even as Kasumi brought out the delectable meal she had prepared.

Before anyone had time to dig in, he made his announcement, "I have sad news, everyone. My close friend, Tenjima Sakura, who lived in America, died last night of complications from breast cancer. After her husband's death, she decided that she wanted me to become her son's guardian if she ever passed on, so he will be staying with us until he finishes high school."

Soun handled the situation quite well, despite himself. In her youth, Sakura was well known for being a brilliant student. Because of this, she was able to go to college in America, while Soun decided to stay back and study the art. Due to the great distance that separated them, there was little communication was able to exist between them, only a few calls a year and five physical visits total. Though there was little contact, their friendship was still unshakably strong. He had known of her illness for a short time, it only having been diagnosed recently. He was surprised that he did not cry, as one would expect, but he knew he had to be strong, girls would not be able to take it well. They loved her like their aunt, even if their knowledge of her only spurned from the few visits she was able to arrange. They knew very little about her son, though, he had stayed in America when she had visited, due to monetary constraints. Nonetheless, their surrogate aunt had passed, and left a son, and that was pretty damn sad.

Kasumi and Akane, being more open than their sister, both broke down into sobbing messes. Nabiki, for her part, also cried, but was at least visibly able to keep a tighter reign over her emotions. Ranma and Genma, in a rare display of tact, did their best to console the others. They knew very little about the woman, Genma only meeting her a few times before she left, but from what they had heard, she was a very kind woman, and more than worthy of the Tendo family's grief. After almost ten minutes of soothing the girls, everyone was finally calm enough to eat. The rest of the meal passed in silence, as the Saotome's attempts to lighten the mood went over like a lead balloon. Once everyone had finished eating, the girls all decided to call it an early night, Akane and Nabiki heading straight for bed with Kasumi following shortly after washing the dishes. Soun and Genma both offered a quick toast and a silent prayer for Tenjima Sakura's soul before turning in. Finally, Ranma decided on a quick workout to burn off some energy before joining everyone else in slumber.

Over the next week, everything returned to its relative normalcy, the general mood of the household lightening quickly after the first night. Ranma, surprisingly enough, decided to err on the side of caution for the first few days after the announcement, realizing that setting off Akane could end much worse than usual. Everything calmed soon though, and shouts of "Uncute" and "Pervert" filled the air around the home once again.

The time of arrival for the newest resident of the Tendo dojo neared soon, and had the house in more excitement than was typical. Visitors were not uncommon, but residents were.

That Saturday morning, during a particularly heated argument between Ranma and Akane, the sound of a taxi stopping outside, and a person getting out arose, grabbing everyone's attention. The sound of baggage being pulled from said taxi's trunk followed, as well as the taxi driving off.

A voice soon floated over the wall, "I'm here!"

To Be Continued…

Well, there you have it, the first chapter. I'm still not completely pleased with it, but I'm not really a great writer to begin with, so it's to be expected. I'd once again like to ask you guys to leave suggestions for any pairings you would like to see with Ranma and the new guy, they will probably be the only ones, but there's a small chance I might do a little bit with another one. Well, that's all I have to say, so please review and leave any suggestions and all that.


End file.
